Making the leap from prox to contactless ID cards
Organizations struggling with the contactless conundrum
08 May, 2013
category: Contactless
There’s also a comfort level with prox that many dealers may not have with contactless technology, sources say. They know how it works and how to deploy the system quickly and easily. With contactless there is still a learning curve some are struggling to get over.
These same industry sources, however, stress that the progressive dealers and integrators who are embracing contactless and other new technologies stand to benefit in the long run. Like with any other supply chain, in the end the laggards are ultimately left behind.
Deployment tips
For an enterprise considering a switch from prox to contactless there are a number of issues to consider. To start an organization should conduct a thorough site survey to find out what kind of card technologies and formats are already deployed, Hart says. “A lot of times it’s difficult for an organization to know all the different card technologies deployed,” Hart says. “A satellite office might use a different technology and the car park might use something else.”
Depending on the technologies deployed and the vendor’s involved this can be a difficult task. “Sometimes the vendor will have proprietary information and won’t want to provide it,” Hart says. There are inexpensive software and hardware tools available that can enable an enterprise to independently check the card formats and systems they have deployed.
Next an organization needs to determine where they want the new technology to be deployed, Hart says. Are there additional doors or areas that need to be secured, and if so, what needs to be done to enable those locations?
The next step is either a pilot or full rollout, depending on how an enterprise wants to move forward. XTec recommends having a small group of employees with new cards tap against a reader for a period of time just to make sure the cards are working correctly, says Helbock. “You can do a storage room or other space just to make sure everything works,” he says.
Once the proof of concept is completed and bugs are worked out, Helbock recommends a phased rollout. “It’s difficult to convert all cards and switch out all readers at one time,” he says.
Once a population has the new contactless cards, it’s best to make the switch as quickly as possible. “There will be a little bit of pain but the quicker you do it the better off you’ll be,” Helbock says.
Some organizations will opt for new readers that can accommodate both contactless and prox to ease transition, Hart says.
On the back end, if the prox physical access system uses the Wiegand Protocol it will work with the new contactless smart cards and readers, Ardiley says. “It’s changing the physical reader but the rest of the components should be able to accommodate the changes,” he adds.
There are some exceptions, says John Schiefer, manager for system deployment at XTec. In the case of a federal PIV deployment the legacy infrastructure will work. If PIV-I is being used with the same system, however, an additional physical access controller might be necessary to handle and check the other data.
Usability
An issue that too often goes unnoticed when making the switch from prox to contactless is the end user’s experience, Ardiley says. Whereas the prox credentials could come in the general vicinity of the readers and open the door, contactless smart cards might require a tap and hold before the transaction is completed.
Enterprises need to educate employees on how the technology is different than prox so that they use it properly. If there are complaints of cards not working it may well be a simple case of user error.
Making the switch from prox to contactless is a big step but it offers users the ability to accomplish more with a lesser risk of intrusion. With contactless credentials enterprises can achieve additional functionality, flexibilty and increased security. The perception of higher cost is often a misperception, but it continues to inhibit deployment. It’s really a matter of educating enterprise on the true costs and benefits of these systems, and then finding a progressive local dealer to assist with rollout.